Painting and waxing...

[TrufflePig]

Hi All,

Okay I'm just being paranoid and I know it. But that's just me. Asking same old questions.

Okay. So, I got a car that has been professionaly been painted at a PAINT SHOP, and how long do I have to wait before I can wax it.

I thought it was like 90 days that you had to wait before you can wax it.

Its not my car. Future father in law. He's never waxed it. Its been three years since the paint job.

Is it safe now to paint. Will the paint come off? Any damage possible?

Mike do you want to chime in on this since i remember you talking about cars and paint jobs?

This is just going to be proof that we can wax his custom built '67 or '69 British Racing Green Austin Healey. Can't remember exact year right now.

Any wax you recommend. I've looked at it in the day light and barely any swirls since it doesn't get driven to often as its a convertible and it has to be very comfortable weather outside in the summer to drive it. Other than that its sits in the garage under a cover.

Thanks all.

[Murr1525]

Re: Painting and waxing...

90 days tops...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Painting and waxing...

Hi All,

Okay I'm just being paranoid and I know it. But that's just me. Asking same old questions.

Okay. So, I got a car that has been professionally been painted at a PAINT SHOP, and how long do I have to wait before I can wax it.

Most paint manufactures recommend a waiting time of approximately 30-90 days. The goal is to insure any and all ingredients in the paint that are going to outgas have the time and the opportunity to leave the paint.

Car wax, whether it's a Carnauba wax, a blended wax, or a man-made synthetic paint protectant, anything designed to coat-over and seal the paint should not be applied to the paint because it will coat over and seal the paint. This will act to block or prevent the things you want to get out of the paint from getting out of the paint.

Pretty simple really. On some forums you'll have people stating you can wax or apply a paint protectant within a few days because modern clear coat paint are chemically cured and are fully hardened after a day or two, however a simple test that shows them to be wrong is to park a freshly painted car in a garage and close all the doors and then after a few hours walk into the garage and see if you smell anything out of the normal?

the answer is "yes", you smell fresh paint, or more technically, fresh solvent evaporating out of the paint.

In the BIG PICTURE, for most of this there is no extreme hurry to quickly seal the paint with a paint protectant after picking your car up from the body shop, but for some reason, a handful of people on the Internet seem to want you to do this, these people often hang out on Corvette and Viper forums and use a paint sealant referred to as a polish.

Big picture, don't apply any type of product that coats-over and seals for at least 30 days, after this window of time has passed history has shown your good to go to apply a wax or paint protectant.

I thought it was like 90 days that you had to wait before you can wax it.

Its not my car. Future father in law. He's never waxed it. Its been three years since the paint job.

If it's been 3 years, you're definitely safe to apply wax and if nothing has been done to the paint job since it was painted, you'll probably want to wash the car and then clay it, often times you'll find a smattering of paint overspray here and there on a car that's been repainted because body shops usually have paint overspray in the air and it lands on everything, so if after the car was painted, it wasn't removed from the body shop location immediately, then chances could be that the next car, or the next car, or the next car, (get the idea), that was painted in the shop, might have allowed some overspray into the air which may have landed on this car. You never know? That's why you should wash the car and then feel the paint with the palm of your clean hand and check to see if it feels smooth like a brand new piece of glass, or if you feel little bumps on the surface, if you do detect above surface bonded contaminants, the clay the paint and even the glass and knowing this is a classic car, then clay the chrome and any stainless steel trim, basically anything that's smooth.

Is it safe now to paint. Will the paint come off? Any damage possible?

We're confused now? Has the car been painted and do you want to know if it's safe to apply wax? Or, is this a car you want to strip and remove the paint to get ready for a new paint job?

Mike do you want to chime in on this since i remember you talking about cars and paint jobs?

This is just going to be proof that we can wax his custom built '67 or '69 British Racing Green Austin Healey. Can't remember exact year right now.

Here's the relevant article you're thinking of...

Paint Needs to Breathe

Any wax you recommend. I've looked at it in the day light and barely any swirls since it doesn't get driven to often as its a convertible and it has to be very comfortable weather outside in the summer to drive it. Other than that its sits in the garage under a cover.

Thanks all.

Any Meguiar's wax is going to help add gloss and bring out the richness of color of the paint, the two things most people want in a show car finish. NXT is pretty hard to beat for a wax that brings out the best of any paint finish assuming any prep work has been done first.

This isn't British Racing Green, but they're all green and they've all been cleaned and polished using Meguiar' and then had 2 coats of NXT applied.









Check out these two first prizes the owner of this Overhaulin Challenger received after we polished out the swirls using M80 Speed Glaze and then applied two coats of NXT Tech Wax.










This is an all original 1965 Corvette Stingray Convertible with the original 396 Big Block Chevy engine and Turbo 350 transmission.

[TrufflePig]

Re: Painting and waxing...

thanks Mike.

yeah it should have read is it safe to wax now.

cheers

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Painting and waxing...

Go for it, polish that car up till it gleams!

Then take some cool shots to share with us!

[TrufflePig]

Re: Painting and waxing...

the first thing i have to do though Mike is to convince him that the G100 and the line of products is safe.

that's the hardest and the part that will take the longest.